Paige kept her eyes closed, trying her best to ignore the sunlight streaming in through the window. She wasn’t ready to wake up. Not when her dreams brought images of Lucas, bathed in the soft glow of the fireplace. Like they had been the day before, his eyes were lit by the reflection of the flickering flames, but in this version, he wasn’t wearing a supersoft black sweater. No, Paige’s subconscious preferred him just as she’d first met him, bare-chested and wearing only a pair of faded jeans and a few days’ worth of stubble. She had wondered how it would feel beneath her fingertips, against her cheek, or even between her thighs. But unlike in real life, where her fantasies remained on the pages of romance novels, dream-state Paige was brazen, bold, and wanton. She reached out, her fingers tracing the outline of his jaw. His gaze darkened as he leaned closer, so close she could feel his warm breath against her cheek like a ray of sunlight on a cold winter’s day. Her lips parted in anticipation…
Wait.
A ray of sunlight?
What the…
Her eyes opened, and as they did, her sexy carpenter vanished like a genie being sucked back into his bottle. She groaned, as much from the bright sunshine as the evaporation of another near-kiss.
Paige’s hands flew to her face, shielding her eyes as she rubbed away the last remnants of sleep. She didn’t want to wake up. She wanted to stay in a dream world where cloudless skies and ferry boats didn’t mean the end of something that had barely begun.
Leave it to her to find herself plopped into a Hallmark movie where the storm clears too early.
No sense putting off the inevitable, she thought.
Paige rolled over…
…to find a small child beside her bed.
“Uh, hello tiny human.”
The little girl giggled as though someone had tickled her toes. “Hello, large human.”
Large, eh? Paige had always heard that kids were brutally honest. Then again, maybe she meant as compared to her size, not to humans in general.
“And who might you be?” Paige assumed she was Lucas’s daughter, but still, introductions were in order.
“I’m Maddie.”
Paige held out her hand—did you shake hands with a child?—but it didn’t matter because without hesitation Maddie placed her small hand in Paige’s.
“Why are we holding hands?” she asked.
“We’re shaking hands,” Paige corrected. She gripped the child’s hand and gave it a quick shake. “It’s what people do when they introduce themselves. I’m—”
But Maddie didn’t bother waiting to hear the large human’s name. Instead she bent down to get something off the floor. “Do you want to see what I’ve got in this box?” It didn’t seem as though Paige had much choice in the matter, since the shoebox in question was now resting on the mattress beside her. Not that she would have said no. The little girl’s eyes sparkled with such excitement, Paige found herself more than a little intrigued.
Maddie carefully removed the lid. When she did, she let out a small squeal, which was nothing compared to the shriek that came out of Paige’s mouth as she peered over the edge of the cardboard to find a large, lumpy toad.
Paige bolted upright, pulling the duvet with her. “Maybe we should keep the cover on that box.”
The little girl looked up at her, confused. “But you can’t pet him if the box is closed. Roger wants to say hello.”
Paige frowned. “Roger?”
“The toad, silly.”
Of course. “How about we save that introduction for after breakfast?”
Maddie shrugged. “Okay.” Once the lid was securely back in place—and Paige’s heart rate had slowed to a mere sprint—she asked, “Are you my dad’s girlfriend?”
“Girlfriend?” And there went the heart rate again. “Oh, no, no, no. I’m here on vacation.”
Maddie cocked her head to the side the same way her dad had a habit of doing, and a tousle of curls fell across her eyes. She blew them out of the way with a breath that sounded more like a raspberry. “In the winter?”
What was the expression? Out of the mouths of babes.
“It seemed like a good time to enjoy peace and quiet.”
“My dad says I’m Captain Quiet Buster.” She giggled. “He calls me Miss Chatterbox because I’m always talking. Said I came out that way.” She set the shoebox back on the floor. “Sorry if the rain ruined your vacation.”
“It didn’t ruin it,” Paige said, and in that moment, she realized she was right. The rain might have changed the course of her holiday, but for the better. Plus… “The rain brought puppies to stay,” she pointed out. “Have you seen them?”
Maddie nodded, and her curls bounced up and down. “They are sooo cute! I wanted to hold them, but my dad said I should wait to see if the vet says it’s okay. He’s coming out later today.”
“He is?” Paige squinted at the bright sun coming through the window. “So the ferries are running then?” Part of her had hoped the harbormaster’s call had been premature and they’d have at least one more day.
Maddie nodded.
“Well, if the ferries are running, I guess that means I can head home,” she said, more to herself than to her small visitor.
The little girl’s eyes grew so wide she looked like one of the Precious Moments dolls Paige’s mom used to buy for her when she was little. Even as a child, Paige had despised a cluttered bedroom, and knickknacks were public enemy number one.
“You can’t leave! My dad says the puppies printed on you.”
Printed? Did she mean imprinted?
Lucas appeared in the doorway. “There you are.”
“I wanted to introduce the pretty lady to Kermit,” she said, pointing to the box on the floor.
Paige narrowed her eyes. “I thought you said his name was Roger.”
Maddie nodded. “Oh, right.”
Lucas’s gaze shifted to the box, then back to Paige. “Sorry,” he mouthed.
Paige smiled. “It’s fine.” And it was. Assuming Roger/Kermit couldn’t knock the lid off of his box.
Their eyes locked, and for a moment, they weren’t innkeeper and guest standing in a room with a pint-sized human and a quart-sized amphibian. They were just a man and a woman with some seriously unfinished business of the kissing variety. The connection was there. She hadn’t imagined it. But why hadn’t he said something last night? Why did he turn away?
Why didn’t you speak up? The Lizzie McGuire cartoon version of Sammy began a lecture that would no doubt have come and gone all day, but Paige snuffed him out. She knew she’d messed up when she left so much unsaid. She didn’t need an imaginary version of her assistant pointing out the obvious.
“Sure you don’t want to hold him?” Maddie asked, bringing her right back to reality. Paige looked at the small girl. If it weren’t for the sincerity in her eyes, Paige would’ve thought she was joking.
“I’m good, thanks.”
“Ms. Parker is a guest, Maddie. Who did not leave a wake-up call.”
“What’s a wake-up call?”
Lucas scooped his daughter into his arms. “That would be you.” Watching the two of them, Paige was struck by how much Maddie resembled both of her parents. She definitely had her father’s hazel eyes and slightly crooked smile, but her hair was a mane of dark-brown curls like her mom’s.
“Well, we’ve never had a guest before.” Maddie’s lower lip jutted out in a tiny pout. “How was I supposed to know?”
Lucas tickled his daughter, and just like that, her pout dissolved into a fit of giggles.
“Out, missy,” he said as he set her feet back on the hardwood floor. “And take your new friend with you.”
“But I wasn’t done talking to Ms. Parker.”
“You can call me Paige.”
Maddie cocked her head to one side. “Like a book?”
Paige smiled. “Sort of.”
Maddie picked the shoebox up off the floor. “What kind of book? A funny one or a scary one? Oooh! Is it a book with kissing?”
Lucas’s brows shot up. “Kissing?” he asked, more than a little bit appalled. “What would you know about that?”
Maddie rolled her eyes. “I’m not a baby, Daddy. I know about lots of things.”
“Is that so? Well, we can talk more about that downstairs.” He placed his hands on Maddie’s shoulders, guiding her to the door as he shot a comically exasperated look at Paige. “Five one day, fifteen the next.”
Paige had to stifle a laugh. Poor guy had no idea what he was in for over the next few years. If he thought toads and talk of kissing were bad, wait until he had to deal with training bras and texting.
Lucas was about to pull the door closed behind them when Maddie poked her head around the frame. “Will you stay and help us take care of the puppies?”
Paige’s eyes darted to Lucas, and when he looked at her, an almost shy smile crept over his face. “You are their sensei.”
“Well, it’s settled then.” Paige surprised herself by agreeing without so much as a moment’s hesitation, but by the time she was halfway down the stairs, she had already started to wonder if she’d made the right decision. Last night she and Lucas had shared a moment. Granted, it was a moment that amounted to nothing but a whole lot of frustration, but it was still a moment. They hadn’t had a chance to talk about it, let alone revisit the idea—something she wasn’t even a little bit ashamed to admit was extremely high on her personal to-do list.
But what if he wasn’t that into her once the moment had passed? Then again, it sort of seemed like they’d had another moment in the bedroom. And he did have a supercute smile on his face when he seconded Maddie’s request that she stay. He was seconding it, wasn’t he? What else could he have meant when he said she was the puppies’ sensei? Gah! Why did romance have to be so confusing? If only she had a few minutes to sit down with a memo pad so she could properly dissect the last twenty-four hours. Right, she thought, because that’s exactly what any normal woman would do after a man almost kissed her—make a flipping Venn diagram about how into her he may or may not be.
“You must be Paige,” a woman said as Paige made her way into the kitchen. “I’m Sophie, Luc’s sister.” The smile on her face led Paige to wonder if she knew about the previous night’s near-kiss situation because her enthusiasm seemed a bit over the top to be just about having a paying customer. Then again, Paige was paying double.
“Nice to meet you, Sophie. Lucas has told me so much about you.”
Sophie’s brows shot up. “Don’t believe any of it. Well, unless it’s about how fabulous I am, because that is one hundred percent true.” She laughed. “But if he tells you the story about the time we ran away, just know that he was the one who packed Mr. Pickles, not me.”
Lucas cut his sister a look that was impossible to miss even from across the kitchen. “More like how you’re the world’s most unscrupulous landlord.”
“Yeah, about that, I’m sorry. Don’t know what possessed me. All in the name of family, I guess.” Sophie winced. “Hope you won’t hold it against Luc. He honestly had nothing to do with it.”
Paige’s gaze shifted to the stove, where Lucas was pouring pancake batter onto a hot griddle. Maddie was perched on the island across from him, swinging her feet as she called out the shapes she wanted him to make with the batter. “All will be forgiven if you make me one of those snowman pancakes,” she said.
He looked at her and smiled. “Deal,” he said. “But we’ll have to skip shaking on it.” He winked, then raised the spatula he held in one hand and the mixing bowl that was in the other. “My hands are a bit full.”
Sophie looked back and forth between her brother and Paige. Yeah, she knew. Or at least she suspected.
“I thought you shook hands when you said hello,” Maddie said.
“And sometimes when you close a deal,” Paige replied.
Sophie’s attention was focused on Lucas, which meant there was no way she’d missed the toe-curling glance he shot Paige between batches. “Sorry I had to bring Maddie back early,” she said. “But the fire alarm at the store has been going off again. The plumber could only meet with me this morning, and if the dang thing malfunctions and the store floods…” She winced. “Let’s just say Blazing Books would be toast. I can come back to get her in about an hour.”
“No worries.” Paige said. “Can’t have Maddie missing out on time with the puppies. Plus, now that the rain has stopped, I need a tour guide. Think you could show me all the coolest places on the beach, Maddie?” For the life of her, she had no idea what made her ask. Normally she wanted to be as far away from children as possible. But something about this little girl’s total openness and sincerity made Paige want to be close to her. As long as her toad wasn’t in her lap.
“Sure,” Maddie said as she decorated her snowman with chocolate chips.
“I mean as long as that’s okay with your dad?” Paige looked over her shoulder. Lucas had stopped making pancakes and was watching her. Judging from the look on his face, he was most definitely on board with the idea. And this time, no Venn diagram was needed.